National Reconciliation Week 2021, 27 May - 3 June

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) in Australia (27 May - 3 June) is held to celebrate Indigenous history and culture and to celebrate and promote respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians.

This year during National Reconciliation Week, Reconciliation Australia, with the theme More Than A Word. Reconciliation Takes Action  urges the reconciliation movement 'towards braver and more impactful action.'

This week is also an opportunity for all Australians to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories, to participate in events, to share that knowledge and help us grow as a nation. 

• Be Part of the National Acknowledgement of Country. 

We, Sisters of Mercy Parramatta Congregation, came to this area in 1888. For over 60,000 years, this area comprising present day Parramatta has been occupied by the Burramattagal people, a clan of the Darug, who first settled along the upper reaches of the Parramatta River. Burramattagal is thought to be derived from the Aboriginal word for 'place where the eels lie down' to breed (within the Parramatta River).

As we prepare to move forward together, this week offers us and all non-Indigenous Australians a wonderful opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture. More information about the traditional owners of this land, the Darug people, can be learned here